New Hampshire Senate passes a bill which would force the Attorney General to challenge the constitutionality of Obamacare

  There is a very interesting battle brewing here in New Hampshire between the newly elected Republican state legislature and the Democrat Attorney General over his decision not to join half of the other states in the Union challenging the constitutionality of the healthcare reform bill.

  The Republican led state legislature wants New Hampshire to join the lawsuit with 27 other states, and as I mentioned above–New Hampshire’s Attorney General, Michael Delaney, is unwilling to do so; because of this the state Senate has just passed a bill which would require the Attorney General to join the lawsuit by a 19-3 vote.

  Michael Delaney has stated that his bill is blatantly unconstitutional on its face and is chiding the Republicans on fact that he feels it is strange that the Republicans–who won victories last November by promising to return to constitutional legislating–would make it their first priority to do something that violates the state constitution on one of their very first legislative priorities.

Do not make your first act as a committee an unconstitutional attempt to handcuff the independence of the attorney general

   He claims that if the state legislature is allowed to dictate to him which laws he must challenge, he will be nothing more that a “rubber stamp” to the state politicians. He also claimed that because he is appointed by the governor, and not elected by the people, that this makes him more of an independent Attorney General than any other Attorney General in the country because he is free from basing his lawsuits on a political agenda.

  I would argue that because he is appointed by the governor, and not elected by the people, that this makes him a “rubber stamp” for the governor’s office who will seek to please the governor even if that means sacrificing the will of the people, and it is no secret that Governor Lynch supports the healthcare reform law–is it simply a coincidence that the Attorney General does not want to challenge the law? And it seems as if the Republicans agree with me:

His job is to serve the people. He’s an employee. And his job is to defend the laws we send him. He has no right to come to this committee and tell us he’s going to challenge this,” (meaning the bill that the senate just passed which would force him to challenge Obamacare) he said. “We’re determined to compel the attorney general to do his job for the people of this state

  Republicans feel that not only does this bill not violate the New Hampshire constitution but there is also precedence for their action.

Committee vice chairman Rep. Lynn Blankenbeker, R-Concord, cited existing state laws that direct the attorney general to perform certain duties, such as provide advisory opinions to state agencies, as support for her vote.

It is crystal clear the attorney general may be compelled statutorily to do many things,” she said. Despite Delaney’s argument, she said, “I’m willing to take that leap

  If this bill passes the House it will then be sent to a committee that the Republicans instituted immediately after taking control of the state legislature–the Committee on Constitutional Reviews–and if that committee deems this bill constitutional it will be sent to the governor’s desk where it will fall victim to John Lynch’s veto pen. Governor Lynch’s veto should be easily overridden and then we can expect the challenges to start. This bill will certainly works its way all the way up to the state Supreme Court for the ultimate decision.

  This battle between the state legislature and Michael Delaney has just started and already tensions are getting high as the Republicans are threatening to introduce a constitutional amendment which would make the Attorney General an official which is elected by the state legislature–I don’t think that this alternative is any better than the current system, if anyone should elect the Attorney General it should be the people–but already it looks like this is going to be a fascinating story to watch unfold.

  I just wish that it didn’t take this kind of political gamesmanship for the Attorney General to do what is right and join the Obamacare challenge. Stay tuned, this is going to get very interesting before all is said and done.